The Osceola times., 1887-10-22
WOMAN'S DEPARTMENT.
SuEERAGE A RiGHT.

n woman Suffrage Right or PriNi-
Ieg.?-Prof. ". II. Carruth's Reply To
Senator ingalls,.
Soiourner Truth once had made an
abolition argument, when some but
ternut" present exclaimed: Nhy'
Old woman. do YOU think we care for
what YOU say? We don't mind your
talk any more than alleabite. " "Nell,
sir" said Sujourner Truth, "then 1
propose to keep you scratching.
The politicians, profess not to heed the
opinions Of unpolllicGl men, but we
propose at least to keep them scratch
inp.n Every man Of US who pays
taxes and has an idea Of his own should
speal, it out, and perhaps we can get
our will done sometime. II we are 10
hold our tongues, how is any one to
know what the voice Of the people is'
1t would end in bcing-'rhe voice OF
the politician is the voice OF Godi ana
the Democratic principle would be dis
proved by a reductio dd d5SHrdum'
There could be no more appropriate
time than this, the anniversary
of the PRONUNCIATION of the Decla-
ration of independence, for me
to make a protest which ] have dong
had waiting. against a certain per
nicious doctrine which ! call political
iniidehty. ..-.... .....-.. ...
A short time ago distinguished cit
izcn of the State. and the acting Vice
President of our Union (Senator
Ingalls,. made public profession OF
this herc.y in speech at Abilene,
which may be taken rs the perfect
flower and consuInmatc absnrdity of
the arguments against the principle OF
democratic government. And if ]
wanted to defeat that distinguished
gentleman in future candidacy, ]
would conimc myself to publishing
that speech and getting it clearly be-
fore his constituency But | have no
war 10 make upon Senator lngal IS,
only ujon the doctrine which he
breaches: and ihe more dazzling bis
armor and tho IGorc lofty his position
the more is il the duty Of every citizen,
however lowY, to defend the position
which he attacks, and 70 let it be
clearly known Chat Kansas is notrcady
! toaccept an Wisioeracy-. rs53
The doctrine, Of which we hear more
and more as The practice Of reading the
Declaration Of Independence falls into
decay and may htavcn check that de-
cqdcncc,-is tli<"- yhat suffrage is
simply . r4ivilese Concession, not Il
RIGHT No one, they say, has q right
to vote; government simply grants the
privilege to those whom ii SO chooses
| to honor. dig at
Now, my friends, this argument. II
any argument be necessary in a coun-
| try like ours, turns on tAe question:
What is government, and what is it
for? Senator Ingalls, answers the ques-
ton from an aristocrauc standpoint,
| nay. more, from an aut0cratic stand-
point. lie assumes that government
is something outside Of and separate
from the governed. which is estab-
lishcd by the grace of God-known
in the Senator's vocabulary as force
and which has the right and function
of saying what men shall live for and
how they shall do it; what is the chief
end Of man and which end be shall
| stand on. That representative of the
most democratic State in all this great
| republic Of dcm0cracios should gravely
announce to the people that govern
mcnt depends on force, is a significant
fact, and, ii that announcement is re-
ccivcd without load and forcible pro-
test--a lamcntablc fact. But, unfortun-
ately for the doctrine proclaimed, the
charter Of this Goyernment reads dif-
fcrcntly, and the whole history Of CIV
ilization show, that It is exactly away
from this Kind Of government that we
have bcca growing.
Upto the present century, suffrage
was The right only Of those classes
which had seized it. But il Is the
glory Of our age to have recognized the
true and right principle of govern
mcni, aud 60 have made within the
last fifty years the first extensions of
the right TO those who could not have
taken it by force OF arms. To be sure,
thcro are still restrictions on the suf-
frage; but their nature proves that it is
regarded rs q right. They have 10
show cause for their existence. Grim
inals are excluded from the suffrage.
because their Influence is east against
the very purposes for which gov
| emmcnts are established. Crime
is uuorganiZpd treason. Idiots are
excluded because they can not Know
whether they are doing what is for
their own good. The Young are OK
cludcd for the same rcason-the ar
bihary age of twenty-onc being set
as limit of their incapacity, because
of the insmmountablo difficulty of de-
tclmining the age Of discretion in
every individual Finally. women are
excluded, bccause-well, nobody has
yet succeeded in finding a valid rca-
son for that, and Kansas, always fore
most has begun the work of remov-
Ing distractions; and she doesn't 60
backward